Evangelism (Christianity)

Those outside the Church are the focus of its mission, as they also belong to the people of God and it is the Church's job to be the "sacrament of unity of the whole human race". There is an urgency in a technological age to replace the worship of creature comforts rather than their creator by the truth of God. Men are seen as alienated from God with a need for familiarization with the purpose of life. Christians are bound by their faith to "go out into the world". Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit there is a need to return to the spirit of early Christians who "went everywhere preaching the word". Knowledge of languages, of cultures, of social structures, of other religions are all required in the Church for this outreach. Caution is necessary in personal interpretation, as human elements may distort the whole truth of the gospel.

Evangelism may be construed as the proclamation of the gospel, with the declaring of the word and the mighty acts of God in salvation and liberation; it may be construed as growth of the Church, the establishment of local churches far and wide; it may be construed as "revival meeting" conversion of the individual; it may be construed as a sharing of faith on a one-to-one basis; it may be construed as not only bringing the individual to the decision to follow Christ but also following up with a programme of instruction so that the individual may then evangelize others. All five methods of evangelism are important and have their place. To avoid conflict between the different methods, a proposed definition is as a set of activities with the goal of primary initiation into the kingdom of God. This primary initiation is the beginning of a complex process. Although the first response may be non-cognitive (stimulated emotions through music and other techniques), leading to some kind of religious decision or experience, the mind must eventually be engaged in cognitive initiation. The issues raised are far-ranging and complicated and have to be worked through as ability and opportunity allow. Since they can never be fully worked through by any individual, however able or long-lived, they have to be based on the basic creed or beliefs of the Church, which provides an intellectual map to help the individual on the way.